Dad of Toddler Goes Viral for His Reaction to a Public Tantrum

Kids

There’s nothing quite like being in a public place and having your young child throw a temper tantrum. But a recent viral photo from one parent proves that these tantrums are normal — and perfectly healthy.

Justin Baldoni, an actor know for playing the role of Rafael on Jane the Virgin, was recently shopping in a Whole Foods store when his 2-year-old daughter Maiya threw a public tantrum. The 33-year-old entertainer was in the store with his own father during the embarrassing moment. This prompted Baldoni to reflect on his own childhood.

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“I can only imagine how many times I did this when I was her age,” Baldoni wrote on Instragram. “My dad taught me so much about what it means to be a man, but this post is about one thing and one thing only. Being comfortable in the uncomfortable.”

Baldoni immediately remembered how his father reacted when he threw a tantrum in public as a child. He wrote that his father would let him “feel what he needed to feel” even if it was in public and embarrassing.

Recalling his father’s parenting techniques, Baldoni let his own daughter scream and cry in public without intervening. His wife, Emily, snapped a photo of the entire incident.

“It’s not embarrassing to me when she throw tantrums in the grocery store, or screams on a plane. I’m her dad…not yours,” Baldoni wrote on Instagram. “Let’s not be embarrassed for our children. It doesn’t reflect on you. In fact.. we should probably be a little more kind and patient with ourselves too. If we got out everything we were feeling and allowed ourselves to throw tantrums and cry when we felt the need to then maybe we’d (sic) could also let ourselves feel more joy and happiness. And that is something this world could definitely use a little more of.”

“Meltdowns are terrible, nasty things, but they’re a fact of childhood,” Ray Levy, PhD, a psychologist and co-author of Try and Make Me! Simple Strategies That Turn Off the Tantrums and Create Cooperation told Parents.com. “Young kids — namely those between the ages of 1 and 4 — haven’t developed good coping skills yet. They tend to just lose it instead.”

Whereas as the “experts” suggest that parents should try to intervene with public tantrums from their kids, the approach by Justin Baldoni seems to be catching on.